Star Trek: Shadow Falcon
by Rebel1701
Summary: Mysterious circumstances surround three Starfleet lieutenants as they stop of at Utopia Planitia for leave. Ch 4 in progress. Updated 3-24-02. PLEASE R&R!
1. USS O'Donnell

"Take her in, Mr. Aerin. Nice and easy."  
Lieutenant Darrian Blair stood at the tactical station of the Federation Starship USS O'Donnell, registry NCC-84209. His arms folded as he watched the viewscreen as it was seemingly swallowed up by Dry Dock 47, one of the larger ship repair bays at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards orbiting Mars.  
The glow of the Red Planet loomed in the lower portion of the viewscreen. Blair sighed. It had bee months since he had returned to Earth, and here he was, a few hours by shuttle away.  
The Galaxy-class cruiser eased to a stop, and Blair could feel the slight tremors as support tendrils from the dry dock found their hardpoints and latched into place.  
"Alright people." Captain McCullough stood and turned to face the majority of his bridge crew. "You've all got two days leave anywhere in the Sol System, I suggest you make the most of it." And with that, he proceeded to disappear into his ready room.  
A pleasant murmur flowed through the bridge as crew members locked down their stations for keeping and headed towards one of the two bridge turbolifts. Blair locked down his own and headed towards the aft lift. Crewmembers filed past him as he waited for his Vulcan friend, Orion Aerin. They stepped into the turbolift, just the two of them-most of the bridge crew had already filed out by the time Aerin had walked across the bridge.  
Blair smirked. "Nice job taking us in back there. Deck 15, transporter room." A confirmation noise was heard and the lift began to move.  
"Thank you, Lieutenant."  
Blair's smirk twisted into a slight frown. "Come on, Orion, we're off duty. And I was joking about the docking job. A hotshot pilot like yourself should be able to take a starship of any class into 47 with their eyes closed."  
Aerin looked at him with the classic Vulcan coolness. "I am sorry, Darrian." His eyes returned to looking straight ahead at the lift doors. "But, how do you know I did not have my eyes closed?"  
His head turned to meet Blair's critical look and coolly raised an eyebrow.  
Suddenly the internal comm. System beeped, and Blair made an 'I'll get it' gesture to Aerin. He tapped his commbadge.  
"Blair here." A small pause.  
"Don't tell me you buys are leaving the ship without me."  
Blair smirked and looked to Aerin for a moment. "Not at all, Ember. We're on our way to Transporter Room Two to get a head start on leave. Care to join us?"  
"I'm just leaving sickbay - I'll be there in five minutes, don't leave without me."  
"We wouldn't dream of it. Blair out."  
Just then the doors to the lift opened, signaling their arrival at Deck 15. The two lieutenants made their way down the corridor to the transporter room.  
The doors to the room whisked open as they approached. There were a few dozen people milling about, waiting to be transported aboard Starbase 2, and from there, most of them to Earth. Many carried bags. Blair noted that most of these people hadn't seen Earth for a longer time than he had-even since the end of the Dominion War. The O'Donnell had been running long range reconnaissance deep inside Cardassian space for a large duration of the war, running on radio silence and an average of five hours' sleep a night. Two days was hardy enough leave for the crew, but that was Captain McCullough for you.  
Several minutes passed. Blair stepped outside the room and looked left and right along the corridors as a third group of seven was transported out. He grumbled a bit as he walked back to Aerin's side. "At this rate, we'll be the last ones off the ship."  
A few more minutes later, Blair, Aerin, and the transporter operator were the only ones left in the transporter room. Suddenly the doors flew open, and Ember Conserkk walked in.  
Blair's jaw nearly hit the floor, and Aerin looked on with the Vulcan equivalent of astonishment, namely a stoic stare. Conserkk was dressed, not in a standard-issue unisex Starfleet uniform, but instead a sleeveless, long, low cut-not to mention revealing-green dress. Ironically enough, her communicator badge still hung from a strap that held the dress onto her left shoulder.  
"Holy shit, Ember, have a date with the base commander or something?" Blair waggled a brow at her.  
Conserkk smirked as she made her way to the transporter platform. "Close enough. First officer."  
Blair folded his arms as looked to the girl incredulously, albeit jokingly. Aerin stood his ground impassively.  
"What? Okay okay, I'm sorry for making you boys wait. On the way here I passed by my quarters and I decided to... accessorize."  
Blair and Aerin continued to stare.  
"Whaaaat?" Conserkk's cries became insistent.  
Aerin finally spoke. "Highly illogical and inefficient." He proceeded to step onto the transporter pad.  
"You said it." Blair soon followed. "Just make sure McCullough doesn't catch you like that." He turned to the transporter operator. "Energize."  



	2. Starbase 002

Starbase 002 was essentially the heart of Utopia Planitia Yards. The so-called "old" Starbase 2 had been burnt to a crisp almost literally by the latest Borg attack, and had been rebuilt as a kind of monument of Starfleet's efforts to rebuild the Federation fleet for what seemed like the hundredth time. The base had four Class Three (better known as "Large") bays for repair or construction of ships that were the size of an Akira-class or larger, eight Class Two (better known as "Medium") bays for ships between the sizes of Saber and Steamrunner-classes, and twenty Class One (better known as "Small") bays for repairing or constructing shuttlecraft and small scout vessels. The aesthetics of the newer-model starbase consisted of two half-spheres maybe seven kilometers across which constituted the repair and construction bays separated by a large living and command and control section that was perhaps five or six kilometers long. As a response to the Dominion War and a defense against more possible Borg attacks, the station was armed with fifty phaser emitters, twenty photon torpedo launchers and ten quantum torpedo launchers.  
Although the Dominion War was over and the Borg attacks had been warded off, Starbase 002 remained a center of high activity. Ships in need of repair, much like the USS O'Donnell, came into the yards each day-some needing complete overhauls, others simply a new coat of paint.  
Blair, Aerin, and Conserkk materialized in the center chamber of the center deck of the station, which served as a transportation hub-ten long range transporter pads and five shuttlebays-and was simply referred to by all who knew of it as "the Hub." The three of them stepped off the pad, and were greeted by a cheerful-looking female crewman.  
"Welcome to Starbase Two. Can I have your names?"  
Blair stepped towards her and looked over her shoulder at her Personal Access Display Device (or PADD) as she keyed in their names. "Lieutenants Blair, Aerin, and Conserkk."  
"Well isn't that a coincidence!" The crewman continued to smile warmly as she pulled the PADD away from Blair in mild irritation, contradicting the look on her face. "The three of you are rooming together. Deck one-oh-four, section fifteen-room number five. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask the computer. The turbolifts are behind me. Thank you!"  
The crewman proceeded to walk to an adjacent transporter pad and greet the arriving officers there.  
"Charming girl." Blair watched her walk off. Conserkk stepped up beside him.  
"Darrian, I think you forgot to get her comm address." She nudged him with her elbow, and Blair returned a sour look.   
Aerin passed them, making his way to the turbolifts. "I suggest we find our temporary quarters first. Comm address finding later."  
Blair and Conserkk fell into step behind Aerin. Conserkk flipped her hair over her shoulder and gave a facetious sigh. "Yes, well, I do have nearly an hour before my date with Commander Fuller, so may as well."  
Blair rolled his eyes and Aerin raised an eyebrow. They stepped into the lift.  
  
***  
  
A few minutes, a short turbolift ride, and a mild walk around the base later, the three officers arrived at their very own personal quarters, which were marked with an impersonal "104-15-5" on the door. Sensing their presence and identities, the doors opened, and the three of them stepped inside.  
The room very simply consisted of three bunk beds, one window, a standard-issue food replicator, a desk, a computer terminal, and a bathroom.  
"I believe that the correct human term would be 'cozy.' Excuse me for a moment." Aerin made a beeline for the bathroom, and the privacy doors shut after him.  
Conserkk immediately sprawled out on the nearest bunk. "This one's mine."  
Blair shrugged. "Suits me." He unzipped the front of his uniform tunic and loosened the collar underneath while moving to the solitary chair that was at the desk with the computer terminal. "I'm going to check for transports to Earth."  
"Yeah whatever, just get me up in twenty minutes, okay?"  
"Sure." Blair made a mental note of it as he activated the computer terminal. "Computer, access list of all ships departing from here to Earth in the next... oh... three hours."  
The computer made a confirmation noise and proceeded to list about fifteen shuttle ferries. At that moment, the door to the bathroom opened and a slightly disheveled-looking Orion Aerin emerged. Blair looked at him quizzically over the top of the terminal.  
"Everything come out alright?"  
"Extraordinarily well, thank you, Darrian."  
Blair snickered and looked back to the available flights. After a few moments, Blair frowned in minor frustration at his terminal.  
"What the hell, damn thing isn't responding."  
Conserkk spoke up from the place where she was resting. "Just give it a break, Darrian. You could use a nap, too."  
"That's not what I mean..." Blair tapped some buttons on his console, which had no effect. "I think it's force-patching me through to some kind of message..."  
This drew the attention of Aerin, who had been about to start meditating on his bunk. He scrutinized the console and attempted to manipulate the controls, again to no avail.   
"Fascinating." Typical.  
Blair squinted at the screen. "It looks like a text-only message... to Blair, Aerin, and Conserkk... Ember, get your ass up and get over here." He continued reading as text was displayed on the screen. Aerin looked over Blair's shoulder and read the single line of text out loud as Conserkk got up.  
" 'You may find these useful.' "  
Ember wagged a brow at the two men. "What the hell's that supposed to mean? Who's it from?"  
"Doesn't say." Blair punched a few contacts and scrolled over the message. "Its pretty... err... ambiguous."  
Then, across the room, the sound of an activated replicator hummed through the room, and the three lieutenants turned to it. In the replication pad there were now what looked like three newly replicated rank pip insignias-two black and one gold.  
They eyed each other for a moment, mostly in confusion. Conserkk walked to the replicator and picked up the three shiny pips. She turned back to them with a half-joking smirk. "You know, I think I saw this holonovel."  
"Is that so." Blair's gaze traced up from the held pips to Conserkk's eyes. "So what happens next?"  
Before Conserkk had a chance to reply, the starbase's internal communications system beeped. Blair sighed audibly at the distraction from the pseudo-mystery and tapped his commbadge. "Yes, what is it?"  
"Commander Blair?"  
Needless to say, this caused the slacking of Blair's jaw, Aerin's eyebrow to rise, and Conserkk's eyebrows knit together in concern while mouthing 'Commander?'  
After a moment, Blair recovered. "Uh yes... what is it?"  
The fairly young-sounding male voice sounded again. "Sir, this is Ensign McHenry from Shuttlebay Seven. You and Lieutenant Commanders... uh... Conserkk and Aerin are almost half an hour late for your scheduled shuttle ferry. Should I reschedule it?"  
Blair's eyes flashed from Aerin to Conserkk, both of whom returned non-helpful looks.  
"Sir?"  
"Uh, yes, Ensign." Blair seemed to squirm a bit. "The three of us will..." He looked to his two compatriots. Aerin continued his impassive stare, but Conserkk shrugged in a 'what the heck' kind of manner, which was all Blair needed. "... be joining you in the shuttlebay in a few minutes. Blair out."  
Blair tapped his commbadge, cutting off the transmission. He proceeded to look from Aerin to Conserkk.  
"Ember, I think you better change back into your uniform. We've all just been promoted."  
"Hold on." Conserkk spoke up, reaching behind her back for the zipper to her dress. "Before we get out of here, I've got an idea of something we can check out… Orion, see if you can access our personnel records from this station."  
Aerin nodded, swiveling the desktop monitor towards him and imputing Conserkk's name and service number. Conserkk's picture and record popped up on the screen, and Aerin scrolled down to the end of the file.  
"Nothing about this supposed 'promotions,' but..." Aerin paused, then slowly looked to Conserkk. "According to this, you're dead."  
"What?!"  
Examinations of the three other officers' records proved to be of similar condition. Each of them recorded their deaths on April 12th, 2376: the present day. The cause of death was given as "Catastrophic event," not very specific, to say the least. Aerin deactivated the terminal and stood, as did Blair.  
"I don't know what any of this is about, but I have a feeling we'll find out if we get down to that shuttle ferry."  
Aerin nodded. "I concur. As the human saying goes, 'we have a plane to catch.'" 


	3. Ferry Ride

It wasn't long before the three officers were marching down the corridor along the midsection of the station. All three were now wearing their Starfleet duty uniforms including Conserkk, who had changed out of her dress and cancelled her date with the station first officer in order to accompany Blair and Aerin on their quest to determine why the hell the three of them had just been mysteriously promoted, rank pips included.  
Thankfully they hadn't passed anyone they knew from the O'Donnell on their way down to the shuttlebay, thereby saving themselves the stress of having to make up a story about why they were impersonating higher ranking officers.  
The trio finally arrived at the Hub, and from the central area with the transporter rooms through a corridor to the shuttle bay where an ensign was waiting for them outside of a Type-6 personnel shuttle.  
The ensign looked like he had been pacing in front of the shuttle for some time--he was looking at the floor and muttering to himself quietly until he noticed the trio approaching him, at which point he immediately stopped and snapped to attention.  
"Ensign McHenry, pilot third class, sir!"  
The three officers stopped in front of him. Conserkk cleared her throat and put on a stern poker face and took a step closer to the ensign. She stared sternly into his face, then moved her eyes down to his shoulder. She swept her hand over it, brushing some lint-which, as Aerin and Blair well knew, was imaginary-off of it, then looked him straight in the eye.  
"I didn't know Starfleet regulations allowed for uniforms to be so... unclean during a duty shift."  
McHenry stiffened. "Uh... no ma'am."  
"No what, ensign?"  
He seemed to stiffen even more. "No, Starfleet regulations have not changed in that manner. To the best of my knowledge. Ma'am."  
Blair looked like he was struggling to keep a straight face at this point. Aerin, being the Vulcan, simply looked on with a slightly condescending look in the general direction of Conserkk.  
Conserkk took a half step back from the ensign. "Well McHenry, are you going to ferry us or not?"  
"Yes ma'am. Right this way." The ensign disappeared into the shuttle.  
Blair snorted as he regarded Conserkk for a moment as soon as the thoroughly chewed-out ensign was out of earshot. "Enjoying your newfound identity?"  
Conserkk simply smirked and moved inside the shuttle. Blair let loose of one more chuckle before following Conserkk and resuming "Commander mode." Aerin followed with a barely audible sigh.  
Inside the shuttlecraft, McHenry had already started the pre-launch sequence. He tapped a communications control.  
"Shuttle oh-one-seven to spacedock control. Pre launch sequence complete, request permission for departure." He closed the channel and turned to Blair, who had been standing behind him, watching.  
"Excuse me sir, but Starfleet shuttlecraft regulations explicitly state that all passengers should be in their seats with safety harnesses attached before and during departure processes."  
"...oh. Okay." Blair tried shrugging in the most non-chalant manner he could muster and joined Aerin and Conserkk who were already seated and belted in on a bench style seat.  
Aerin raised an eyebrow at Blair. "Very 'by the book,' is he not?"  
"No kidding!" Conserkk broke in. "Looks like his first week on duty."  
"Mmm," Aerin agreed.  
After another moment, the communications equipment crackled. "Shuttle oh-one-seven, this is spacedock control. You are clear for departure. Please proceed along pre-specified course to NCC eight three three one seven."  
"Acknowledged control." McHenry began punching controls on his console. "Launch in progress."  
The whole group felt themselves pushed back in their seats slightly as the shuttlecraft went from zero to half impulse in one point five seconds, but the feeling tapered off as the inertial dampers kicked in.  
"Not a bad launch, ensign," Blair noted.  
"Thank you, sir." McHenry didn't turn back to acknowledge the complement. He appeared to be giving all of his attention to the shuttlecraft controls. Blair shrugged.  
Aerin cleared his throat. "I suggest you let the ensign pilot the craft, Darrian. It is customary for Starfleet to post third class pilots aboard starbases as shuttle ferry pilots."  
Blair swallowed. "Thanks for making me feel better about the whole thing."  
The three passengers looked out the window at the sight of Utopia Planitia.  
"Hey, there's the O'Donnell." Conserkk pointed out the not-so-far-away Dry Dock. She shuddered. "I wonder how well they would accept a medical assistant that ranks higher than the CMO."  
"Not to mention a Commander at tactical," Blair laughed.  
Aerin stared out the viewport at the O'Donnell, not even bothering to acknowledge the two previous comments with so much as an eyebrow raise.  
"Hey." Conserkk poked Aerin on the arm. "You alright?"  
"Perhaps not." Without turning his head, he raised the volume of his voice so McHenry could hear. "Ensign, open a channel to the USS O'Donnell, in Dry Dock 47."  
"Aye sir."  
"What is it?" Blair asked.  
"There appears to be some kind of energy fluctuation that is localized in the engineering section of the ship."  
Blair squinted out the viewport and did manage to make out some kind of faint blue electrical-looking emissions from the bottom of the starship's hull.  
McHenry had slowed the shuttle down to one-quarter impulse as he accessed the communcations equipment. "Sir, I've managed to raise the O'Donnell."  
"Put it on screen."  
Blair turned to the miniature-sized viewscreen that was just right of the forward viewport. The image of the O'Donnell bridge appeared, with Captain McCullough leaning over the shoulder of the officer who was manning the operations console. In truth, they looked fairly busy. Red lights flashed in the background, indicating that the ship was on alert.  
Without looking up from the ops console, McCullough spoke up. "What is it, we're a little busy here."  
"Sir, this is Lieut... er... Blair about a shuttlecraft about two kilometers away. Sir, what's going on?"  
"Lieutenant!" McCullough looked up from the console he was examining. "I suggest you put some distance between us, we've got some major fluctuations with the EPS power grid on decks twenty six through forty two and the containment fields around the antimatter pods are destabilizing--and we don't know why."  
"Blair's brow furrowed. "But won't that lead to a--"  
"Yes, a core breach and we all die, we know." McCullough's attention was distracted for a moment by the chief engineer, who was manning the engineering station near the rear of the bridge.  
"Sir, containment breach in thirty seconds, there's nothing I can do!"  
"Sound evac! Everyone to the nearest escape pod!" McCullough turned back to the viewer. "Blair, get that shuttle out of there, there's no telling what the explosion'll be like from these new high-efficiency warp cores!"  
Blair swallowed and nodded. "Yes sir. McHenry, you heard the man, full about." Blair returned his attention to the mini-viewscreen. Most of the bridge crew had filed out already, but the captain remained--he was standing at the tactical station. "Sir, get out of there!"  
McCullough didn't bother to look up. "Lieutenant, I'm a little busy coordinating evac at the moment..."  
Aerin looked up--he was settled over the shuttle's sensor display. "Darrian, the O'Donnell's warp core is going critical. Five seconds."  
Blair stood off his chair and yelled at the viewscreen. "Damn it, get out of there!"  
"Core breach, in progress."  
As soon as the phrase had escaped Aerin's mouth, the screen of the O'Donnell's bridge was swarmed with flames just a half-second before the feed went dead and the screen snowed over. The four looked out the viewport in time to see the O'Donnell shatter from the inside out by a powerful matter/antimatter explosion. The resulting shock wave was powerful enough to blow the dry dock that encapsulated the starship to pieces.  
The four shuttle occupants braced themselves instinctively against the force of the wave, most of which was fortunately absorbed by the inertial dampers.  
"I lost attitude control for a moment, but I've got it back now." McHenry tapped at his console in a rather calm... perhaps too calm tone. The three remaining officers, who had been staring helplessly at the violent demise of the O'Donnell, slowly moved their eyes to McHenry, with more than a hint of fury. Save, of course, Aerin.  
After a moment, Conserkk exploded. "What the *HELL* are you talking about? If you didn't notice, we just lost our goddam ship!"  
Conserkk's usually easy-going green eyes had taken on a noticeably different firey blue hue as she stared into the face of McHenry. The ensign swallowed and turned to the other two officers for help. Blair stared on with a rare look of anger, and even Aerin's passive gaze held a perturbed air.  
McHenry swallowed once again after a moment of silence. His eyes then focused directly in front of him, almost at "attention" in his chair. "Ma'am! Starfleet regulations seventy three point two, paragraph six subsection two: in the event of an emergency, it is imperative that all Starfleet personnel on the scene remain emotionally detached in order to insure the safety of themselves and others, ma'am!"  
This only seemed to perturb Conserkk even further. "I don't give a targ's behind about any goddamn regulations right now--"  
"Ember." Blair's hand was on the woman's shoulder. "He's right. We have to find out what is going on... there's no use in fighting like this."  
Conserkk paused, gritting her teeth. She glared at Blair for a moment, then backed away from McHenry grudgingly and took a seat near the back of the shuttle, folding her arms tightly.  
"Alright then." Blair threw a glance at McHenry before looking over to Aerin, who was still hunched over the sensor display. "Orion, lets look over the sensor readings... maybe figure out how the hell this happened."  
Aerin nodded and gestured to the console in front of him. "As sensors previously indicated, there were some unusual fluctuations in the EPS power grid in the stardrive section of the ship."  
Blair nodded. "Yeah. Have you found out what the cause was?"  
"Perhaps." Aerin tapped his console. Conserkk straightened in her seat, listening. Aerin continued on. "Shuttle sensors indicate a significant amount of maritime particles in the debris."  
Conserkk spoke up. "Maritime particles? 'The hell are those?"  
"I've heard of them... some kind of molecules that are found in class three nebulaes?"  
"Quite correct, Darrian," Aerin continued. "According to the computer analysis, an introduction of maritime particles into the power distribution network would affect all EPS-related systems in that section of the ship. It just so happens that the antimatter containment fields are particularly vulnerable to the fluctuations produced by these particles."  
Conserkk's eyes squinted as she tried to examine the sensor readings from her position in the back of the craft. "Will Starfleet get the same readings we are from the debris?"  
"Highly unlikely," Aerin responded. "The maritime particles are decomposing rapidly... it is unlikely Starfleet will be able to send out an analysis team to the place of the O'Donnell's destruction before the amount of maritime particles is contributed to normal background radiation."  
"So I guess we better tell them then, huh?"  
"I'm already on it." Blair swiveled in his chair to face the computer panel that accessed communications. He tapped the activation control.  
"Starbase two, this is shuttle oh-one-seven, come in please."  
A moment passed, and nothing was heard.  
"Starbase two, come in." The four officers stared out the viewport at the comm-silent base.  
Blair scrutinized the console. "Looks like something's jamming the transmission... Orion, is the interference from the O'Donnell explosion and/or debris enough to block a comm signal?"  
"Negative... sensors indicate that the jamming signal is being generated by... Federation technology." Aerin looked up and raised an eyebrow at that last part.  
Conserkk broke in. "Federation tech? What ship is it coming from?"  
Aerin's face crinkled just the slightest bit in acute frustration. "It does not appear to be localized at any point with a ship..."  
Blair's eyes narrowed. "A cloaked ship? With Federation technology? How is that possible?"  
Aerin pursed his lips together in thought. "If memory serves, the only Federation ship with a cloaking device is--"  
"The Defiant?"  
  
***  
  
"Hail the Defiant," Blair said without looking away from the view of the ship that presented itself out the viewport. The Defiant was the manifestation of the Federation's latest developments in integrated combat systems and was equipped with the only cloaking device available to Starfleet, giving it the ability to become hidden from sight and sensors. It was designed exclusively for combat, contrary to most starships in the fleet, whose primary purpose is exploration. That's what made Blair nervous.  
McHenry moved to comply with Blair's orders, and after a moment, the computer gave a responsive chirp. "No response, sir. They're running silent."  
"Interesting." Aerin stood over the sensor display. "The Defiant is not emitting Federation transponder frequencies."  
"Which means Starfleet has no idea where they are. Until, of course, they decloaked just now." Blair straightened his uniform as he looked back at Aerin. "The question is, of course, why."  
Aerin nearly shrugged. "I do not know." He looked down suddenly as his console beeped insistently in alarm. "Darrian, the Defiant is powering its weapons… they are targeting the Starbase."  
All four looked out the viewport in horror as the Defiant opened fire on the base with a stream of pulse phasers and a salvo of quantum torpedoes. The weapons punched through the station's shields immediately, which had only been activated a few moments before. The remaining un-shielded-against weapons exploded into the hull of the base, making a crater roughly the size of a Galaxy-class cruiser in the upper half sphere section of the base. The small warship then veered off from its vector and cloaked, disappearing from sight and sensors.  
A few moments passed-all four stared on in astonishment-until Blair spoke up. "Anyone mind telling me what the hell just happened?"  
"The Defiant blew a hole the size of a class-3 asteroid in the Starbase, what does it look like?" Conserkk stared out the viewport at the smoldering station with the still glowing wound.  
"I know that, but-" There was a bright blue flash that flooded the shuttle's interior for a few moments, but subsided before Blair could finish his inquisitive phrase. "…the hell is that?"  
"We were just scanned." Aerin stiffened in his chair. "Once again, no ship at the source coordinates." He raised a brow and peered at Blair. "The shuttle was the only object scanned."  
"Shields, get the shields up." Blair hunched over McHenry, who was seated at the conn in the forward most area of the cabin as Conserkk pulled herself away from the starboard viewport and planted herself in the chair that faced the shuttle's small tactical station. She tapped a control as she sat down.  
"Shields up." She turned her head in Blair's direction, but didn't move her eyes from the panel. "You think they're going after us? I'm charging weapons."  
"Did you want to be caught with the shields down if they decided to? And transfer weapon energy to the shields, the peashooter on this thing wont do anything resembling damage to the Defiant if she comes after us."  
Conserkk nodded and made the appropriate adjustments. Blair propped himself to McHenry's right, one hand against the ensign's chair and the other resting on the edge of the console to his forward right. He squinted as he scrutinized the vastness of space that was visable through the large forward viewport. "Come out come out… if you're going to come out, do it!"  
As if in response to his demand, the Defiant slowly appeared, decloaking, directly in front of them, putting the shuttle and the small starship head to head, speeding towards each other.  
"Holy shit-evasives!"  
"Yes sir!" McHenry pulled his right index finger into a 45-degree length over a circular touchpad in front of him, pulling the shuttle into a tight right turn.  
The Defiant veered left, unleashing a barrage of pulse phaser bursts into the shuttle's port and aft shields. The interior of the cabin shook slightly, and a few display panels flickered.  
"Shields down to 60 percent!" Conserkk turned towards Blair from where she was sitting. "We can't take much more of that!"  
"Darrian, if I may?"  
Blair looked over his left shoulder at Aerin for a moment, then nodded.  
"Thank you. Excuse me, ensign."  
"Yes sir." After throwing the shuttle into a sharp left turn, McHenry slid out of the pilot's chair and was replaced by the Vulcan, who, Blair could've sworn, cracked his knuckles covertly before taking the seat.   
With a few flicks of his wrists and dancing of fingers over the helm, Aerin ignited the underside port thrusters and gunned the impulse engines to 80%, inverting the craft and corkscrewing it down the Z axis at nearly half the speed of light. This maneuver didn't throw off the pursuing craft, which unleashed another barrage of pulse phasers, which decimated the shuttle's rear shields.  
A power conduit ruptured near the back of the shuttle's cabin, showering sparks from the ceiling-based conduit onto the floor.  
Conserkk, who had been bracing herself on her console, released her grip as the shuttle equalized. She checked the readout on her panel, then glanced up to Blair. "That last hit fried the shield generator. Another good hit and we're screwed!"  
Blair's forehead began to shine with sweat. "Orion, we need to do better than that if we want to remain unincinerated…"  
"I am sorry-" Aerin grunted as he pulled his finger sharply over the panel a half-second after a collision alarm sounded, banking the shuttle into a barrel roll, then immediately into a tight right turn, narrowly evading a rather nasty pair of quantum torpedoes. "I am sorry, but I cannot shake the enemy vessel."  
Aerin's hand flicked the other way on the panel, but it was too late. A follow-up burst of pulse phaser blasts from the Defiant nicked the back of the shuttle's cabin, but the main burst slammed into the shuttle's port engine, taking it nearly clean off.  
The inside of the shuttle rocked violently, throwing everyone off his or her chairs as the shuttle flew out of control, tumbling side over side starboard in response to the hit.  
"Warning," the shuttle's computer intonted. "Outer hull breach. Multiple microfractures detected. Structural integrity collapse imminent. Estimated time to decompression: Fifteen seconds."  
Blair struggled to his feet and glared out through the thick smoke that now existed inside the shuttle's cabin through the spiraling stars through the forward viewport. Small electrical fires burned everywhere in the cabin, and there was a big cracking sound as the hull began to buckle under the pressure.  
"Well, it's been nice knowing you all." He made a feeble attempt at straightening his uniform, which was now singed black across the shoulders and ripped at his left sleeve. The others looked at each other worriedly as the computer counted down impassively.  
"Warning. Decompression imminent. Four, three, two, one…"  
  
***  
  
"Transporter room, do you have them?"  
Lieutenant Junior Grade Tarlsk K'Sathe cocked a brow as he paused for a moment as he waited for the comm system to respond. He glanced to the officer at the engineering station to his right, at the far side of the command center. "Ensign Cassidy…"  
"Sorry sir, just another comm system glitch. Try it now."  
K'Sathe was just about to open his mouth and try again when he was interrupted.  
"-ter room to bridge. What the hell?? Transporter room to bridge, come in."  
Cassidy smirked a bit at the somewhat unprofessional use of language by the transporter operator. K'Sathe ignored it and spoke up.  
"Chief, did you get them or not?"  
"Yes sir I did, but-"  
"But what?"  
"Ensign McHenry and party already left the transporter room, sir. They said they were on their way to the bridge. They should be there momentarily."  
"Very well."  
"And sir? He brought some fairly high-ranking officers along with him."  
At that moment, K'Sathe heard the turbolift doors open near the back of the bridge. He gave an acknowledgement and closed the comm, then stood and faced the four new arrivals, who seemed oddly out of place-their bruised bodies and singed and tattered uniforms in comparison to the relative cleanness of the bridge on which they had just set foot. K'Sathe looked at Blair specifically and inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement. "Greetings, Commander."  
Blair squinted just a bit as he looked over K'Sathe. He then nodded in return greeting. "I was hoping you could point me in the direction of the captain of this boat. I need to talk to him immediately."  
K'Sathe threw a glance to Cassidy, then looked back at Blair. "But sir," he began. "You are the captain." 


	4. A New Command (inc)

Darrian Blair learned a great many things that day. The starship that had saved them was named the USS Shadow Falcon, registry NCC-83317, the ship that the shuttle ferry had been heading towards in the first place. Apparently, the ship's bridge crew, lead by the Vulcan Chief of Operations and acting captain K'Sathe, had detected weapons fire around the shuttle that was supposed to be ferrying its captain and had left dry-dock ahead of schedule and had arrived just in time to rescue Blair and co. and had warded off the Defiant with a few well-placed phaser bursts.  
  
The Shadow Falcon was Steamrunner class, with a standard crew complement of two hundred and fifty men and women. And all of them, apparently, were under Blair's command.  
  
For the moment, Blair and the two other officers had silently agreed to play along, and had been given a tour of the ship by K'Sathe. The tour had ended in the ship's Engineering section, and Blair had elected to stay there while Conserkk and Aerin were being shown to their quarters.  
  
The Shadow Falcon had just been built, and it nearly literally reeked of newness, much like 20-21st century automobiles, fresh out of the construction plant. The overhead lighting was subdued and the countless panels that dotted the large room glowed, giving the area an aura of relaxation that seemed to be a central theme Starfleet was trying to get back to with its post-war construction efforts. The carpeting of both the upper and lower levels of the deck was spotless. The soft humming of the new warp core reverberated in the large chamber, illuminating the quasi- dark room with a soft blue-green glow. Several junior engineering officers milled about, checking and making adjustments to panels and occasionally making a mellow comment to a peer. None of these officers, Blair noted, were over the rank of Lieutenant. Another effect of the war.  
  
Blair had been standing there on the upper deck staring into the pulsating lights of the warp core for quite some time—perhaps twenty or so minutes—before Conserkk walked up to him and leaned onto the railing beside him. She spoke in a subdued voice.  
  
"Darrian… you okay?"  
  
"Yeah… yeah, I'm fine." Blair's eyes darted down to a PADD that Conserkk held in her right hand. "What's that?"  
  
"Oh, right. Here, look at this." She handed him the PADD and he examined it, but she summarized verbally anyway.  
  
"You remember how it said before that the three of us were killed? Now it says how. You remember how the Defiant fired at the Starbase? The sections that were destroyed in the attack included our guest quarters…"  
  
"So everyone does think we're dead." Blair nodded, handing the PADD back to her and staring back into the glow of the pulsating core. He paused, looking like he was about to say something. He stopped himself, then regained his composure and steadied his voice.  
  
"Did… did everyone make it off the O'Donnell before it went up?"  
  
Conserkk took in a deep breath, then shook her head. "No. Most made it off though… a lot of people were already near the escape pods when the captain gave the abandon ship order."  
  
She paused, letting her words sink in before continuing. "None of the senior staff made it… and you know about the captain."  
  
Blair nodded and paused, then shifted his weight slightly on the railing. "What about… you know…"  
  
Conserkk swallowed, letting her vision follow Blair's, into the mesmerizing lights of the core. She paused. "Lindsay… Lindsay didn't make it. She was still onboard the O'Donnell when she went up… didn't make it to an escape pod in time… I'm sorry…"  
  
Blair hung his head low, clamped his eyes shut, and had pursed his lips together hard. He remained that way for a few long moments. He then spoke, without moving his head.  
  
"Do I get a ready room on this bucket of bolts?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess… on deck 1."  
  
"That's where I'll be." Blair straightened and composed himself, tugging down on his uniform tunic in an effort to straighten it out. "You and Orion try and get more information on this whole mess." Without waiting for a response, Blair about-faced and made his way down a spiral staircase to the lower level, and from there towards the exit.  
  
"But Darrian…!"  
  
"Just do it!" Blair yelled right as he walked out the door, drawing the attention of nearby engineers, who looked to Conserkk quizzically. She ignored their gazes, looking after Blair with a mix of insult, sorrow, and sympathy.  
  
***  
  
Blair stormed into the captain's ready room and ordered the computer to lock the door. He walked the three paces necessary to bring him to a couch along the wall of the room and flopped down on it and dropped his face into his hands. Tears welled in his eyes—the release of the tension he had to fight on the journey from engineering to the bridge… completely different areas of the ship. She was gone, and there was nothing he could do.  
  
He had been dating Samantha Maréz for nearly eight months. She was a bright young ensign who worked in Stellar Cartography—Blair and she had met at one of the O'Donnell's monthly socials. He usually didn't go to those types of parties, but Conserkk had convinced him to attend. She had even done him the favor if introducing him to Samantha. They seemed good together from the start—Maréz had the Chief Science Officer title in her sights, and Blair wanted to make captain before he was forty. Both of their schedules had been hectic, but the fact was, they felt for each other. So, a few times a week, they made time for each other. A quiet dinner here, a trip to the holodeck there. In fact, just the other night, they had shared dinner and a bottle of champagne (non-synthaholic—it took a bribe or three from the ship's bartender) to celebrate the return to port. The only reason why she hadn't disembarked with Blair and the others was because she wanted to put some extra analysis and some finishing touches into a report that was due the following morning.  
  
Blair lifted his face from his hands and straightened a bit in his seat. His cheek, which had been stained by a single tear, was soon wiped dry with the sleeve of his uniform. No time to worry about that now, he told himself. He had bigger fish to fry. This was his ship, after all.  
  
Somehow.  
  
He cleared his throat and looked around the room for the first time since entering. The size of the captain's ready room was slightly smaller than that of the Galaxy class O'Donnell—it had the more metallic, bare- bones motif as the bridge, which perhaps made the room appear smaller than it really was. It was fairly bare—a trio of large bay windows were on the far wall, in front of which was a desk—the captain's desk, presumably—with a computer terminal on top of it and two padded chairs on the opposite side. Then there was also the couch, on which Blair was currently sitting. The remaining two walls were bare, save for a single one by three-quarter meter painting of the Shadow Falcon. Either Starfleet had some serious economic concerns, Blair mused, or it was because captains were supposed to customize their own ready rooms—more likely the latter, he supposed. Blair sniffed loudly, almost in a manner the opposite that of a sigh. If he got to keep this tug, he'd have to do a bit of redecorating.  
  
He stood and slowly walked behind the desk, and after a quick inspection of its surface, glanced out one of the three windows that spanned the upper half of the wall.  
  
The Shadow Falcon still hung in space near where Dry Dock 47 had been. Several small Starfleet support vehicles swarmed around what was now a fairly large debris field—mostly cleaning up the wreckage for further analysis, either at Starbase 002 or at Earth. Blair grumbled a bit to himself. The loss of a dry dock of that size would probably put back Starfleet ship repair operations by at least a few months.  
  
Blair squinted out the window at the wreckage. It wasn't moving, was it?… no, that was this ship. The stars moved and the debris fell out of view. They were moving away.  
  
He had a moment to wonder why before the internal comm chirped, and K'Sathe's voice was heard. "Captain to the bridge."  
  
It was another moment before Blair realized that it was he who was being called. He straightened his posture and cleared his throat before acknowledging and exiting the ready room at a brisk pace.  
  
"Captain on the bridge!"  
  
Blair paused for a moment just inside and gave a nod to K'Sathe. He then proceeded at a slow pace to the center of the room.  
  
He eyed the center chair as he made his approach, all by itself at the center of the bridge. He walked slowly behind it, then stopped just to the right of it and folded his arms. He looked at the viewscreen and tried to appear non-chalant as he waited for a status report.  
  
"Captain," K'Sathe reported. "Since we are the closest and most able starship, Starfleet has given us orders to investigate the destruction of the USS O'Donnell. Command indicates that a surveillance satellite orbiting Saturn has some data of use to us. Our ETA is four minutes at warp one point six."  
  
"Very well." Blair nodded in response. "Inform me when we get within sensor range."  
  
K'Sathe nodded and returned his attention to his console.  
  
It was then that Blair's attention became refocused on the command chair that he was now standing beside.  
  
In truth, he had only sat in the "big chair" once during his posting on the O'Donnell. It was during a particularly volatile diplomatic mission, where both the captain and the XO were involved in negotiations and most of the senior officers were occupied with other tasks. He had gone nearly half of the shift without getting within a meter of it, and when he did finally work up the courage… he felt small. Insignificant. He melted into the chair like a black hole would crush a Class 1 probe. Unfit for command, definitely. Of course, he was only lieutenant junior grade at the time, and that was nearly two years ago.  
  
His hand reached for the headrest of the chair, and he grasped it firmly. He looked it over. Probably hadn't even been sat in before. The leather (or some replicated material, Blair mused) almost had a remnant of that "new furniture" scent that was prevalent on 20th and 21st century vehicles.  
  
It was then when the turbolift doors opened, giving Aerin and Conserkk access to the bridge. Blair turned around and acknowledged their entrance with a slight smile and a nod. Aerin returned the nod and brushed past Blair. Conserkk moved to Blair's side.  
  
"Something wrong with the chair?" She smiled and backed off a step.  
  
Reluctantly, Blair eased himself down into the chair. Comfortable, in his summation. Meanwhile, Aerin had relieved the ensign at conn and was familiarizing himself with the controls.  
  
Conserkk sensed Blair's sense of confusion, and answered his unasked question with a whisper. "Orion's at the helm, same as on the O'Donnell."  
  
Blair nodded, whispering back. "Makes sense. He's only damn near the best pilot in the fleet." His eyes slowly made their way up to hers. "What about you, what's your assignment?"  
  
Conserkk smiled broadly. "Guess."  
  
Blair's jaw dropped, and he had to contain himself to make his voice sound routine. "You're kidding!"  
  
"It gets better. CMO and first officer."  
  
"Well. Then technically, you can relieve me of command by yourself."  
  
"Don't temp me." She winked and took a step back. She was happy to say, it looked like he was feeling better, at least for the moment.  
  
Blair raised his voice enough so that the whole bridge crew could hear. "Are we within range?"  
  
"Just entering range now," K'Sathe reported from the Operations console.  
  
"Lieutenant, go ahead and establish a datalink with the satellite… Helm, take us within five thousand kilometers." 


End file.
